Lucas Ripley
Lucas Ripley was the Fire Chief for Seattle Fire Department. History Claire Sullivan's Death Lucas was working with then-friend Robert Sullivan when they responded to a call about a car accident. When they arrived, Robert recognized one of the cars as belonging to his wife, so he immediately rushed to help her. He tried to break protocol to help her, but Lucas told him he was too close to the situation and needed to back off. Claire died, which strained their friendship. ("Do a Little Harm...") The Incinerator When the captain candidates came out for their practical tests after taking their written exams, Ripley unexpectedly came out to observe. He watched as each team of four took turns acting as captain. When Jack decided to leave without the dummy after two sweeps turned up nothing, Ripley complimented him on being the first person in fire years to master that variation. After Andy had her turn and had to call for mayday when Cole Edmonds was hit by falling debris, he witnessed Battalion Chief Frankel berating her over her decision to stay in and find the dummy instead of coming out. He told her he'd speak to her about it later, as she was meant to judge the candidates impartially. He then told Andy that part of being captain is making tough decisions, like between the ethical choice to continue rescuing the dummy or the safer choice of coming out. ("Stronger Together") Strip Mall Fire Ripley came out to the strip mall fire. He was surprised to see Jack in charge instead of Andy, but Jack told him Andy had to take a personal day. ("Let It Burn") Captain Interviews Believing that Frankel had shown bias in the issue, Ripley decided to interview the crew of Station 19 himself, getting their input on who should be captain. After interviewing all of them, he went to the hospital to interview Pruitt, who said he wouldn't recommend either Jack or Andy to be Captain. ("Every Second Counts") Skyscraper Fire While doing the final interviews of the Captain candidates, he was paged away to a skyscraper fire in downtown Seattle. He said the interviews were postponed until further notice. When Station 19 arrived at the fire, he gave them directions. When he learned that there were combustibles on a floor above the fire, he sent Ben and Travis to vent the stairway so civilians on the top floor could get out. While that was happening, the fire jumped floors between the panes of glass in the window. Ripley was helping evacuate the base camp they had set up, when Jack radioed down and said there was a trapped civilian and they needed elevator rescue. Ripley said that wasn't possible because they couldn't jump the fire in the elevator or risk spreading the fire through the elevator shaft. Despite this order, Andy took the elevator key and sent it up to them. Ripley told her making tough calls like this was part of the job she wanted. He took the key back from her and went out down the stairs. ("Not Your Hero") Andy asked Ripley over the radio for help to rescue Jack, but he refused and ordered Andy to leave the building herself because it wasn't safe to be there. Despite this order, Andy stayed in the building to save Jack. Dean soon came out of the building and also requested help to go rescue Jack, which was also refused. Ripley told him to help the people already outside. Against this order, Dean re-entered the building. When Vic exited the building with Travis, he asked how they were all doing. Vic didn't believe he cared, but he insisted that he cares more than she could know. He also said that if she came at him like that again, she'd be fired. ("No Recovery") New Captain Six weeks after the skyscraper fire, Ripley introduced them to Robert Sullivan, their new captain, who immediately established himself as a strict, by the book boss. He said he wanted to improve station 19's efficiency and wanted to start immediately. ("No Recovery") Peer Group Ripley attended a peer group for firefighters, where he talked about being haunted by the skyscraper fire and the choices he had to make that day. After the group was over, Vic approached him and apologized for the way she spoke to him during the skyscraper fire. He said she should share her own experience because it might help others. ("Lost and Found") Officer Training Ripley came to a training held by the firefighters of Station 19 for the police department, training them in CPR and first aid. When Ripley noticed Sullivan being particularly hard on Maya and singling her out, he sent Sullivan home, knowing that it was the anniversary of his wife's death. ("Do a Little Harm...") Dean's Birthday Party Ripley attended Dean's surprise birthday party, where he flirted with Vic over cutting the cake. After the party, they went home together. ("Do a Little Harm...") Windstorm During the windstorm, the team was called in because B shift was stranded. At the station, they were surprised to see Ripley there, checking on the stations. They went over storm protocols and gathered extra supplies to be ready. Andy and Sullivan were soon after called out for a car accident, then Greg, Ryan, Pruitt, and Grant surprised the team by bringing Friendsgiving to the station. Meal prep continued, but another call came in and Ben, Dean, Travis, Maya, Vic, and Ripley headed out to cover it, leaving Jack alone at the station. On their way to the call, a tree branch went through the windshield of one of the engines and a fallen tree blocked the road for the other. Ripley and Vic stayed behind to cut up the tree while Maya led the rest of the team to the emergency on foot. After breaking up the whole tree, they finished the drive to the house, where a fire had started during a rescue. The fire was then extinguished. Ripley then announced that Seattle Fire Department wasn't taking calls anymore and everyone should seek shelter immediately, so the team returned to the station and sat down to eat. At the table, Ripley announced that Maya would be a lieutenant soon and he already put her in for a transfer to station 23. ("Weather the Storm") Ripley got a call that Andy and Sullivan hadn't been heard from in over an hour and hadn't arrived at their last known destination. He was called back to headquarters, so he left Pruitt to act as Captain during the rescue mission. ("Crash and Burn") Approving Maya's Stay Maya was set to transfer to station 23, but Sullivan came to him and said he wanted all three lieutenants because he felt they each played an important role at the station. ("I Fought the Law") RV Crash One day, an RV crashed into the side of station 19. A young girl came out of the driver's seat and said her mother was shaking and wouldn't stop. To prevent further damage to the building, Travis disconnected the fuel in the vehicle. Then they worked to expand the exit to get Ellie's mother out. Once she was freed, Lucas helped Travis and later USAR stabilize the building so it wouldn't collapse. This was complicated when a broken cellphone sparked and explosion fueled by the extra propane tank under the sink in the RV. ("Baby Boom") Jumping in on a Rescue While Ripley was visiting with Sullivan and trying to rekindle their friendship, Station 19 got a call out for a car accident. Ripley checked the page and recognized the number that called 911 as Vic's. Because of this, he joined them on their call. After helping the team rescue Josh and Emmanuelle, he took Vic home and tucked her into bed. She was worried because of their fight about her having told Travis and told him that if that small fight was enough to end them, he should take his good-smelling shirt and leave. He said he didn't want to leave and instead climbed into bed with her, even though she was sick. ("When It Rains, It Pours!") Power Outage During a power outage, the generator at station 19 had a worrying result, so Ripley supervised while Pruitt fixed it and then wrote him a recommendation for the job he was applying for. Ripley noted that Pruitt was way overqualified for the job, but Pruitt said he thought it would be nice to be a big fish in a small pond for a while and get some praise. ("The Dark Night") Hospitalization and Death Ripley jumped in to help when a fire at a coffee processing plant got out of control. He oversaw operations outside, but when all other firefighters were trapped leaving the captain of 42 alone inside, Ripley superseded his order for no one else to come in and went in after him. After getting knocked over by exploding coffee beans, he was able to get Conlin out. Vic, after watching and waiting for him, said she wanted to spend forever with him and proposed married for real, not just as a way to get around the rules as he'd suggested. She told him not to answer right away and they agreed to meet for breakfast the next day in order to talk about them. The next morning, he went to a flower shop to get her flowers and accept her proposal. However, as he left the shop, he collapsed on the sidewalk. ("Friendly Fire") Ripley was found by Levi Schmitt, whom he'd met in the flower shop, and taken to Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, where Bailey recognized him as he was being treated in the ER. Maggie ran several tests, trying to get to the bottom of why he passed out in the street. Eager to see Vic and accept her proposal, he made multiple attempts to get discharged so he could leave. When Maggie left him alone in his room, even after making him promise not to leave, he left the hospital in search of Vic, which was discovered when Maggie got his test results that showed his condition was much worse than previously believed. ("What I Did for Love") The tests showed he'd been exposed to some kind of toxin, which could kill him. He was out searching for Vic, but agreed to go to a hospital if they promised to find Vic and bring her to him. Once he was at the hospital, it was confirmed that he'd been exposed to hydrofluoric acid at the coffee plant fire, which was affecting his calcium levels. They started treatment, but Maggie told them it wasn't working and now was the time to say goodbye. His sister and Sullivan talked with him for a while and then Vic went in and sat with him until he died. ("Always Ready") Relationships Romantic Exes He'd been married twice. First, to an unknown person when they were very young, then to Eva, who disliked his job and made him sleep on the couch regularly only six months into their marriage. ("Do a Little Harm...") Victoria "Vic" Hughes Lucas first met Vic during the Captain peer reviews. Vic yelled at him and blamed him for the outcome of the call, saying he wasn't doing his job and making sure all stations were on par with Station 19 with response times. ("Every Second Counts") After the skyscraper, the two had another confrontation in which Vic blamed him for not caring about her team and evacuating the entire building with her whole team still inside. Even though Lucas told Vic that if she came at him like that again, he'd fire her, he was clearly bothered by what she'd said. ("No Recovery") The two reconciled when Vic attended a peer group for firefighters, she was surprised to see Ripley there, sharing how the skyscraper fire affected him. After the group, she apologized to him for how she'd acted that day and its impact on his feelings about the day. ("Lost and Found") During the police training session at Station 19, which Chief Ripley was overseeing, they flirted. After Dean's birthday party, Vic asked him out for a drink and then two of them slept together. The next morning, she snuck out of her own appartment, worried about what it meant, but Lucas called her later that day and they presumably agreed to keep seeing each other. ("Last Day on Earth") Ripley visited Station 19 during the storm, and even though he was worried it looked like he was there for her, Vic told him they could be professional while at work. After working together on a call breaking up a tree, Vic and Ripley agreed that what they'd done was hot and hooked up at the station. ("Weather the Storm") After Ripley announced Maya's promotion to lieutenant and transfer to Station 23, Maya asked Vic details (since Vic was seeing Mayhorn from 23) in front Ripley, who was clearly curious, but Vic quickly shut it down. Later, Lucas tried to find out more from Vic, but they were interrupted by Pruitt. ("Crash and Burn") Four months after the windstorm, they were still seeing each other. They went to Astro Corner Coffee Shop so they could eat together in public and Lucas asked if they could do more of that because he liked being in public with her. They then started to have sex in the parking lot, but the manager caught them and asked them not to. ("Crash and Burn") Vic learned that Ripley had told his sister about them and he was surprised she hadn't told anyone. She decided to tell Travis and told Ripley that she'd told her best friend. Not realizing that meant Travis, Ripley said he knew that she had the sense to tell someone away from the station. ("I Fought the Law") When Lucas learned that Vic had told Travis, he was upset and believed she wasn't considering the consequences of other firefighters knowing. The two had an argument in Vic's bunkroom and Vic asked Lucas if their conversation (meaning their relationship) should be over. Lucas left before he could say anything he didn't mean. ("Baby Boom") After their fight, Vic was uncertain what their future held. Because she was sick, Sullivan sent her home while Lucas brought burgers to ask Sullivan for advice about Vic. Even though he tried not telling Sully who he was seeing, Sullivan guessed quickly. When the station received a partial 911 call, Lucas quickly realized it was Vic and joined the team to rescue her. After she treated a couple that had been in a car accident during a storm and delivering their baby, Lucas was checking up on her in the Aid Car, but Vic told him she didn't need him and that she was awesome to which he responded that he knew. Later, Lucas was taking care of Vic at her apartment and Vic confronted him that they hadn't finished their fight and told him he was wrong because if an argument was all it took to break them up, they shouldn't even be together, so if they couldn't fight and make up, he could take his nice-smelling shirt and go. Lucas responded that he didn't want his shirt back and that no matter what, he didn't want to go, "I don't want to let you go." He then got into bed with Vic despite the fact that she was sick. ("When It Rains, It Pours!") Sometime after this, Lucas christened Vic with her nickname, "Eggy" because of the dish she ordered for breakfast at the Astro Corner Coffee Shop. The manager of the diner apologized about scolding them when they were about to have sex in the parking lot and said they were relationship goals. He also assumed that Vic and Lucas were married, calling Lucas Vic's hubby. Lucas then told Vic about his previous wives and that if he would get married a third time, he would take it very seriously and he wouldn't be game unless he knew it was really right. ("Always Ready") Around this time, Vic met Jennifer, Lucas' sister, and the two hit it off even when Vic told her about how the two of them jumping out of planes during the weekends.("Always Ready") With their first fight out of the way, things settled quite nicely for them. While he was at the station to talk to Sullivan, they took advantage of a brief power loss to make out a little. When discussion Pruitt's recent trip to Hawaii, they discussed going on a trip themselves, but because of the secrecy, they decided that they could only go on trips in their heads. At the end of a difficult day, Vic said she wanted to go on a real vacation with him, but she still acknowledged that they couldn't without telling everyone they were dating, so she dismissed the thought as a mere fantasy. ("The Dark Night") In order to be able to stay together without worrying about their different ranks, Ripley suggested they get married, but they dismissed the idea as too crazy. However, after seeing him make a difficult call and go in after the captain of station 42, she proposed to him for real, saying she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. He tried to respond, but she told him not to reply right away. They agreed to meet for breakfast the next morning and talk about them. However, the next morning, Ripley didn't show up, which Vic took as a rejection. She didn't know that Ripley had collapsed right after getting her flowers and had to be taken to the hospital. ("Friendly Fire") When Lucas woke up a the hospital, he asked for Vic, but the other firefighters told him they couldn't reach her. While waiting for test results, Lucas checked himself out of Grey Sloan to go look for Vic. When Sullivan called, he said he'd go back to the hospital after he found Vic and explained what had happened. Sullivan then told him he had to go to the hospital urgently because he had inhaled chemicals at the fire, and he agreed to go to a hospital if they would go get Vic and bring her to him. They did so, but by then, his condition had worsened and Jennifer, his sister, believed Vic was at fault for what had happened to her brother and pulled the family card, keeping Vic from knowing anything about Lucas' condition. However, when she learned what really happened and that Vic had proposed marriage, she let Vic in, but by then it was time to say goodbye. Vic struggled with not wanting to go into the room, but ultimately, Travis helped her get there. Lucas accepted her proposal The couple reunited, albeit briefly. Vic said they could finally take that vacation and described their dream vacation. Lucas then accepted Vic's proposal and asked if they could get someone in the room to get married, but Vic just wanted to have the moment with him, just them. A crying Vic told him she was really ready to spend the rest of her life with him and Lucas said that at least he got to spend the rest of his with her. They shared a kiss and Vic held his hand until he died. ("Always Ready") After he died, Vic was lying on top of the firetruck crying over Lucas as she remembered when they said "I love you" for the first time while her team surrounded her.("Always Ready") Familial He is very close with his sister Jennifer. Their parents died when he was in college and she was still a kid, which brought them even closer. She worried about his job and even more when he took up dangerous hobbies. ("Always Ready") Friendships He and Robert Sullivan were good friends when they worked at station 88. Their friendship was strained when Robert's wife died on a call while Ripley was working on her. ("Do a Little Harm...") Career He was the Fire Chief for the Seattle Fire Department. Before deciding on a new Captain, Ripley also acted as interim Captain for Station 19 for six weeks. He had been with the Seattle Fire Department for over fifteen years when he died. ("Lost and Found") Notes and Trivia *He was pronounced dead at 17:43.Always Ready, 2x15 (S19) Gallery Episodic S191x06FireChiefRipley.png|Stronger Together S191x07FireChiefRipley.png|Let It Burn S191x08FireChiefRipley.png|Every Second Counts S191x10LucasRipley.png|Not Your Hero S192x01LucasRipley.png|No Recovery S192x04LucasRipley.png|Lost and Found S192x05LucasRipley.png|Do a Little Harm... S192x07LucasRipley.png|Weather the Storm S192x08LucasRipley.png|Crash and Burn S192x09LucasRipley.png|I Fought the Law S192x11LucasRipley.png|Baby Boom S192x12LucasRipley.png|When It Rains, It Pours! S192x13LucasRipley.png|The Dark Night S192x14LucasRipley.png|Friendly Fire 15x23LucasRipley.png|What I Did for Love S192x15LucasRipley.png|Always Ready Episode Stills S191x06-13.jpg S191x06-16.jpg S191x06-27.jpg S191x10-25.jpg S191x10-26.jpg S192x01-14.jpg S192x01-15.jpg S192x01-16.jpg S192x01-24.jpg S192x01-25.jpg S192x01-28.jpg S192x07-1.jpg S192x07-9.jpg S192x07-13.jpg S192x07-17.jpg S192x07-20.jpg S192x07-21.jpg S192x07-22.jpg S192x07-35.jpg S192x07-40.jpg S192x07-46.jpg S192x07-48.jpg S192x07-50.jpg S192x07-51.jpg S192x07-52.jpg S192x07-53.jpg S192x07-54.jpg S192x07-55.jpg S192x07-56.jpg S192x07-59.jpg S192x08-16.jpg S192x08-20.jpg S192x08-21.jpg S192x08-24.jpg S192x08-30.jpg S192x08-31.jpg S192x08-32.jpg S192x08-33.jpg S192x08-34.jpg S192x11-6.jpg S192x11-11.jpg S192x11-14.jpg S192x11-16.jpg S192x11-18.jpg S192x11-19.jpg S192x11-20.jpg S192x12-4.jpg S192x12-5.jpg S192x12-6.jpg S192x12-7.jpg S192x12-8.jpg S192x12-18.jpg S192x12-19.jpg S192x12-20.jpg S192x12-21.jpg S192x14-1.jpg S192x14-3.jpg S192x14-5.jpg S192x14-12.jpg S192x14-15.jpg 15x23-4.jpg 15x23-5.jpg 15x23-6.jpg 15x23-7.jpg 15x23-8.jpg 15x23-9.jpg 15x23-10.jpg 15x23-11.jpg 15x23-12.jpg 15x23-13.jpg 15x23-16.jpg 15x23-17.jpg 15x23-18.jpg 15x23-19.jpg 15x23-20.jpg 15x23-21.jpg 15x23-22.jpg S192x15-16.jpg S192x15-17.jpg S192x15-18.jpg S192x15-19.jpg S192x15-20.jpg S192x15-38.jpg S192x15-39.jpg S192x15-42.jpg S192x15-43.jpg S192x15-44.jpg S192x15-45.jpg S192x15-46.jpg S192x15-47.jpg S192x15-48.jpg S192x15-49.jpg S192x15-50.jpg S192x15-51.jpg Appearances Category:Characters Category:Deceased Characters Category:GA Characters Category:GA S15 Characters Category:S19 Characters Category:S19 S1 Characters Category:S19 S2 Characters Category:Firefighters Category:Patients Category:Patients (Cardio) Category:Patients (Neuro)